INDULGING THEMSELVES LIKE MEDIEVAL ARCHBISHOPS. University Diaries has been following the adventures of suspended American University president Benjamin Laidner, who apparently has parlayed a rather generous expense account into La universite? C'est moi! Professor Soltan has located a website with a Drudge-like red alert warning of a faculty revolt. Just start at the top of each linked site and keep scrolling.

Blogs for Industry has done a follow-up on my coverage of the tussle between the state legislature and the University of Wisconsin system. His digging reveals that the Madison campus employs 2,064 faculty and 16,287 employees. Money quote:

What's appalling isn't the number of administrators who have backup jobs...it's the number of administrators.

Indeed.

Here at Northern Illinois, the dwindling ranks of professors face ever-larger classes and less logistical support while the administration engages in fundraising for alumni houses and improved weight rooms. The football team itself is reverting to form. But the burdens of the president are being lightened. Yes, despite all the talk of stingy legislatures and tuition sticker shock, the powers that be came up with sufficient money to entice the president of Chadron (Neb.) State to serve as special assistant to the president. This individual spent some time at St. Cloud, perhaps I can find a scouting report there. Here's what the division of labor will be.

[Northern Illinois president John] Peters said he also looks forward to having more time to interact with students and faculty, and more energy to devote to his growing duties as a fundraiser for the university.

For his part, [new hire Tom] Krepel said he stands ready to do whatever is required to move the president's agenda forward, whether that means applying his skills in benchmarking institutional performance and planning, or simply filling in for the president at events or handling important correspondence.

I'll keep this information in mind the next time I hear a colleague crack wise about Vice President Cheney actually running the show in Washington, particularly if it comes from a campus politician.

Apparently part of being indulged like a medieval archbishop is moving a concert to a less suitable concert hall. The opening concert of the Vermeer Quartet was offered tonight in the auditorium of the original campus building, now a small castle for the upper administration. There was apparently a private party with several Important Guests who reserved the small balcony of the auditorium, leaving the rabble to scramble for fewer seats in a smaller hall with poorer acoustics. But the Important Guests didn't have to leave the castle. Hence tonight's posts. I didn't expect to have time to comment on anything today between the concert and the exams coming up and preparing for the public hearing.